Peter Westwood 9:18 am on November 2, 2010
Tags: coding style ( 6 )

I added a little to the file naming sect…

I added a little to the file naming section of the WordPress Coding Standards to clarify the way in which we name our class files.

In summary class files will be named using hypen separation and based on the class name they contain.

I won’t be changing the name of old files but have updated the files we added in 3.1 before it’s too late.

#coding-style

Mike Schinkel 10:00 am on November 2, 2010

Glad you posted this. I’ve been meaning to ask and this seems like a great time. In coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., some functions use a leading ‘wp_’ like wp_insert_post() whereas other functions don’t, i.e. update_post_meta(). Try as I might I’ve not been able to decipher a pattern but I’m sure one is in there I just haven’t been able to grok it.

So when and why does a core function get a wp_ prefix and when not? Also, if there is legacy involved and some functions don’t follow the rationale, will they be cleaned up over time?

This one has bugged me for a while… Thanks in advance.
- Ozh 10:26 am on November 2, 2010
  
  I think at the origin the wp_* functions were more private stuff used within APIs, but this has evolved without real guidelines
  - Mike Schinkel 10:45 am on November 2, 2010
    
    Thanks for the reply. Would it make any sense to start some guidelines if none exist? If there are none it would seem like wp_ prefix might be consider reserved so a best practice would be to never name a function or variable starting with wp_ and then WordPress would be free to use that namespace for future enhancements?
  - Peter Westwood 10:47 am on November 2, 2010
    
    @Mike: Actually best practise is for plugins/themes to prefix everything with something. That way they never clash with coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. or each other.
    
    I tend to prefix with my initials or the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party slug.
Ozh 10:25 am on November 2, 2010

Any reason for the file naming scheme other than having something consistent and pretty to the eye?
- Peter Westwood 10:28 am on November 2, 2010
  
  I went with consistency to the existing rules which stated separate with hypens and just documented the current practises.
  Personally, I prefer the class. and functions. that BackPress uses but I also don’t see a need to change WordPress in that direction – what we have works fine.
  - Andy Skelton 7:36 pm on November 2, 2010
    
    I value filenames that can be autocompleted with few keystrokes. My only material objection to a new filename is one that increases the number of keystrokes to access an old file.
scribu 4:05 pm on November 2, 2010

For context: #15280
Jacob Santos 6:12 pm on November 2, 2010

else if or elseif section:
“Both notations are used in conjunction with curly brackets, there is no rule which to prefer. elseif can save you some hassles sometimes.”

Problem 1: WTF?

Problem 2: The point of a standard is to specify which is used for consistency. This is not a standard and therefore does not belong.

Problem 3: elseif vs else if is only a problem when using if() : elseif() : else: endif;. Since this is rarely if ever used in WordPress, it makes more sense to use “else if” instead.

“If you forget an equal sign it’ll throw a parse error instead of just evaluating true and executing the statement. It really takes no extra time to do, so if this saves one bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. it’s worth it.”

These bugs are certainly hard to find, however, if this is the case, then it also makes sense to never have any assignment in the if statements. This may go against the previous rule where variables aren’t created unless they are used more than once. It is worth it for consistency. It should be noted that assignment already exists in the if statements now confusing the standard.

The “Self-Explanatory Flag Values for Function Arguments” Section.

Most people solve this by simply using constants, it might be something to look into.
- Andrew Nacin 7:21 pm on November 2, 2010
  
  I’m working on a new coding standards document. In it, I’ve proposed s/else if/elseif/ and I plan to make that change across coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress..
  
  I don’t mind assignment in the if statement. We just need to be worried about left-hand comparisons.
  
  Re: function arguments: I’d rather a string any day.
  - Jacob Santos 8:19 pm on November 2, 2010
    
    The mistaken assignment is most often a novice mistake and often corrected with simple peer review. When you have assignment in an evaluation statement, it confuses the reviewer as to whether you made a mistake or if it is intentional. It is considered best practice in that instance to always do assignment outside of evaluations for clarity and to let those reviewing the code know that you’re not making a mistake.
    
    Coding standards aren’t always preference, when working with others they should be considered for ease of review, clarity, beauty, and preference last.
    
    It also appears that certain aspects are being drawn from compiled languages and applied to interpreted ones without discerning why certain standards are applied to compiled and why those similar instances do not apply to languages like PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher.
  - hakre 11:13 pm on November 3, 2010
    
    @nacin – I asked multiple times when the coding standard gets actually applied it to the wordpress codebase. I even offered help for that multiple times but I can not see any traction for months. Shouldn’t this something be done prior to a new point releaseMinor Release A set of releases or versions having the same minor version number may be collectively referred to as .x , for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.3, and all other versions in the 5.2 (five dot two) branch of that software. Minor Releases often make improvements to existing features and functionality.? Is this actually something to expect or is the coding standard just to fill up a codex page?
    - Andrew Nacin 6:20 am on November 4, 2010
      
      I’ve spent some time reading the contribution handbooks of other open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. projects. I’ve noted a relevant section on coding standards from the Linux manual, specifically, the second hazard listed in the “coding style” section.
  - Peter Westwood 8:09 am on November 4, 2010
    
    @hakre: Coding Standards are always a guide. It is a waste of everyones time and effort going back and applying them to legacy code.
    
    They are all about promoting consistency going forward.
    
    We do not need to create unnecessary churn in the codebase as this just increases the test burden.
  - hakre 1:59 pm on November 4, 2010
    
    The argument of legacy code can be left aside. The coding standard is not applied to new code as well. This might be about promoting something but not about actually doing it.
    
    But I didn’t pose my question that some might think they need to defend themselves, I mean this package is the work of many and as peter stated, this is all about promoting consistency going forward.
    
    Instead I wanted to find out if we can see some traction for this in the near future or not?
    
    We last talked about the coding standards before the hiatus and it was said that it will become applied to the codebase (IIRC the statement was by you Nacin). At least it sounded like quite a plan. This was somehow related to the sourcecode documentation on the wordpress website, this probably helps you to remember what I mean.

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I added a little to the file naming sect…

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